True Crime with Kendall Rae - Missing: Mother of 5 Crystal Rogers

Episode Date: September 5, 2023

In July 2015, mom of five, Crystal Rogers, just went missing one day. Her boyfriend seemed strangely relaxed about her disappearance, and so her parents were the ones to go to the police and report their missing daughter. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: DoorDash - promo code: KENDALLRAE Hatch Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Make every meal an adventure for your small breed dog with origin dog food. Combine premium wet food and kibble to craft your dog an ectic meal packed with animal ingredients. Discover origin recipes at your local pet specialty store. Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. Happy to have you back again. Today, we're going to be covering the case of crystal rogers. So this is crystal rogers. She was 35 years old at the time that she went missing and also a mother of five. Her parents are named Sherry and Tommy and she grew up in Bardstown, Kentucky.

And this is a pretty small town. It's known to be a very quiet town. I know they say this in so many true crime documentaries But when people talk about Bardstown, they talk about how they never thought a crime would happen there It was also voted the most beautiful small town in America in 2012 It's kind of a picture-perfect area growing up crystal was the oldest kid in her family And she made friends pretty easily But was also kind of shy and reserved crystals known as an incredibly down-to-earth person. She was very laid back, very easy-going,

really anti-conflict, just very go with the flow, and Crystal really valued family. She was very, very close with her parents and loved her children. She actually had her first kid at a pretty young age and she always had wanted to be a mom, so she was super excited. Crystal was an excellent mother to her five children and she actually worked multiple jobs to make sure that they had the best life possible. She loved them so much. Crystal was married at one point

and it really didn't work out and Crystal had kind of had a history of having these shitty guys in her life to be honest. Her family talked about how disheartening it was to see such a good person like Crystal always end up with just the douchey guys. They didn't treat her well and didn't respect her and so she had just gotten a divorce. So she had to rent a house for her and her kids now that she was a single mom and this is when she ended up

renting from this guy named Brooks Halk. So Brooks was a landlord, and soon after meeting, the two of them ended up dating each other. They had a few casual dates here and there, and then eventually it turned into something more serious. They never got married, but they moved in together, and they had a son together.

His name was Eli, and at the time that Crystal went missing, he was two and a half years old. So Brooks seemed like an okay guy. At first, Crystal's family didn't really notice any red flags with him. They were really hoping that he would be good to her this time. Brooks had come from a family of builders that was really well known in this area. And at one point, he even ran for sheriff in the Democratic primary, so a lot of people knew him. And like I said, Crystal's family was super welcoming to Brooks.

And at first, everything seemed good, but eventually something started to stick out to them. And that was that Broke's wouldn't treat Chris' other children that weren't biologically related to him with the same love and care that he did for his own child. Not only that, but he would treat them almost as if he wanted nothing to do with them. They would go the grocery store and he would make crystal by all the groceries for her kids and then he would buy groceries for their son Eli.

Now before we get more into Brooks, there's one thing that you should know about this family. There are multiple cases that have played this family. Back in 1979, crystals aren't sherry also went missing. According to family, it was just a normal day. Her aunt went into town and never returned home. It was a long time ago, so there were way less resources and it still unsolved to this day. So jumping back forward in time, July 3rd, 2015. On this night, Crystal and Brooks were planning

to have a date night. Crystal's other children, some of her older children, still had decent relationships with their fathers. So they actually went to their fathers for the night so that Crystal could, you know, have a date night with Brooks. And then when it came to their youngest son Eli, they said that they had a babysitter. This is kind of confusing. But Brooks basically said that they told the other kids that they were having a babysitter. But in reality, they were actually going to take Eli with them on their date night. But they didn't want the other kids to be jealous of this, so they said that he was going to be staying home with a babysitter. That day was normal.

Crystal actually had been working with Brooks in his landlord job. She would kind of take care of the houses in between and like check on renters and stuff. So she was working on a few properties that day and then she went to Walmart and then she just came home for her date night and she was really excited for this. But at some point during the night, Crystal's mom Sherry got a text message from Kaylee who is Crystal's daughter, so Sherry's granddaughter.

And she had asked if she had talked to her mom at all. So Sherry text Crystal and tells her, hey, just so you know, Kaylee's trying to get a hold of you. Later that night, Kay. So Sherry texts Crystal and tells her hey just so you know Kayleigh's trying to get a hold of you. Later that night Kayleigh texted Sherry again and asked if she had any luck getting a hold of Crystal and Sherry had not heard from Crystal yet and she said this was very unlike her. So Sherry called her and Crystal didn't answer so she just went ahead and left a voicemail. So they started calling around to other family and friends and asking if anyone else had seen Crystal or heard from her

and everyone was saying no. Sherry's other daughter Brooke tried calling Crystal, but at that point her phone was off and that's always very, very concerning. So at that point, they really all started panicking, especially Sherry. Crystal's mom Sherry is so sweet. I really feel so bad for her.

You can tell this has just been so painful for her. So right away Sherry and her husband, Tommy went into the police department and filed a report that Crystal was missing. Now, it's super weird is on the way to the police department. Sherry happened to cross paths with Brooks. Of course, she asked him, have you seen Crystal?

And he just said no, but was very casual about it. Like, didn't seem concerned at all. Brooks said that the last time he saw her was the night before that she was at home on her phone playing phone games. And he said that he didn't notice that she was even gone until he woke up the next morning at 8 AM.

She told him she was very worried and that she was headed to go file a police report right away and he just kind of was like, okay, sounds good, whatever. He didn't even seem to really care. That crystal was missing and to share this was an immediate red flag. And he said that he didn't panic or really think too much of it because according to him, sometimes crystal would get angry with him and go stay at her cousin's house. So he thought that she had

just gone to her cousin's a witness house. So Brooks, you go to bed and she's still playing games on her phone. The next morning around 8 o'clock, you notice that she's missing. Did you report her missing? No ma'am. Why? That is a great question. And one that I definitely want to get the public and the media.

I was not in the least little bit, alarmed in any way, shape or form. We have had a stress relationship at times. And one of the ways that Crystal has always chose to cope or to deal with that is by going to a young woman's name Sabrina that is her cousin, her dad's brother's daughter whom she's very close to and she spent the night there on several occasions. When you say several, do you mean one, three, twenty? In the neighborhood of four to

six. However Sabrina explained later on that Crystal had only come over a few times when her and Brooks were having fights, but she never stayed the night. She always went home at the end of the night. So, Sherry continued on to the playstation and Crystal's brother also joined them. His name is Casey.

And while they were at the play's department, Casey got a call from Crystal's ex-husband son and he claims that he may have seen Crystal's car on Bluegrass Parkway. So Crystal's father Tommy and Kasey, her brother, leave together from the police department and go check this area out. They drive to this highway and sure enough, it was her car that was there. But Crystal was nowhere to be found. Crystal had a maroon 2007 four-door Chevrolet. It was found near mile marker 14 of the Bluegrass Parkway and it

had a flat tire but it wasn't like completely flat but it was flattening and what's really scary is the keys were still in the ignition and her purse was still in the car. You can tell that a lot of her tires were low on air actually. There were black marks on the road from the tires kind of skidding. However, none of the tires were anywhere near the point of completely blowing out. Like, she could have still driven for a while. She didn't have to stop because of the tires. And Crystal was actually known for being a relatively paranoid and safe person. She really thought about safety more than other people do. In fact, one time she had gotten a flat tire and according to her brother, she drove all the way home with it, where it was pretty much just the rim on the ground because she was afraid of pulling over.

She wanted to make sure she had gotten somewhere safe, so this was very unlike her. And not to mention, she had AAA, so she could have called for help without even having to get out of her car. The bottom line is Crystal was very cautious, prepared, and a little paranoid, so this just did not seem like a situation that she would have left. It almost seems staged right away. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪

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Normally, Crystal would have the actual seat move pretty much all the way up and then the back of the seat she would have kind of reclined a little bit. However, when they found the car, it was moved. So the bottom part was pushed back and the seat was actually sitting straight up like she would not have driven like this. So this obviously makes you think maybe she wasn't the one driving the car when she went missing. So at this point, Crystal's family is really, really freaked out, especially her mom Sherry. On July 5th, they released a bunch of information to the media and that's really where it started to pick up traction.

We're just trying to find her! Sherry Ballard fears the worst. As all day Monday, she spent searching for her 35-year-old daughter, Crystal Rogers. Ballard, along with dozens of volunteers, are combing the area off of the Bluegrass Parkway outside of Bardstown. On Sunday, that's where family members found her car and all of her belongings inside. Sherry and Tommy were trying to get as much media coverage as they could, trying to do as many interviews as they could, even Brooks didn't interview with them on Nancy Grace. And this really brought out a ton of volunteers and people that wanted to help this family find Crystal.

They put this big sign up near where her car was found on the highway. They put little signs all over town. Dozens of volunteers came out to help search physically on the ground. They did a lot of the searching themselves, the family did. Except for there was one person that never helped with the search. And that was Brooks. Some people have accused you of not being involved enough in the search efforts. What's your response? That is a great question and one I'm certainly appreciate you asking me and that is all of my effort and searching for her and has

been done behind the scenes with the Nelson County Sheriff's Office. Those who knew the couple were already starting to kind of put the picture together in their heads. They said that Brooks could be somewhat abusive to her, was very controlling of her, and a lot of people claim that

she changed a lot once she had gotten together with him that he had forced her to change. A lot of her friends said that they would talk to Crystal a lot more before Brooks came into her life. And once Brooks was in the picture, their relationships started to kind of fizzle out. On July 6th, the family posted a reward

for any information leading to Crystal's discovery and that was for $25,000. And then on July 8th, Brooks goes into the police department to do an interview. Brooks stated that the night before she went missing, he, Crystal and Baby Eli drove about 15 miles to Brooks mom's house around 7 p.m. and they refer to this house as the farm.

Brooks said that when they got to the farm, they went to feed the cows and that he lit a fire to burn some waste like he always does. Which I guess it's really common to burn things on a farm, like some farmers do it multiple times a day to get rid of their trash and stuff. At one point their camera is actually picked up Brooks leaving the farm and then eventually coming back. According to Brooks, he had left to go get more feed for the cows, but the police don't believe this. Brooks also claimed that he, Crystal and Eli all took a little walk around the farm, but this is really weird because at this time it was cold, it was raining, and it was really

late at night. They didn't get back to their house until about midnight, so they were at the farm in the late hours of the night with a baby. So police automatically questioned his story. Why did you have a young child with you out this late at night? I mean most kids have bed times. It was just weird. But he said that Crystal was a night owl and they usually did stuff like this late at night.

Brooks said that they got home, they went inside. Crystal wanted to stay up a little later and she was going to play phone games and that was the last time he saw her. He then goes to bed and he woke up with Eli in bed with him. Like he said before, he got up at 8 the next morning. Crystal wasn't there. He thinks that she's over at her cousin's house. So he and Eli get dressed and they're gonna go back to the farm.

According to him, he had called Crystal twice to see where she was and she didn't answer. And he kept talking about how he didn't want to bother her too much because when they did fight, sometimes she just needed her space and he doesn't want to push her, that makes things worse and stuff, but it's very confusing because they didn't even fight that night.

Why would she have gone to her cousin's house? Why would she have left? If you're like playing phone games, you're probably like planning to go to bed soon, you know? It just doesn't make any sense. Later that night, Brooks went to a family gathering. Like nothing was wrong, very, very strange. And this is after running into Sherry

and her telling him, hey, I'm gonna go to the police department and file a report. And he just went on, like, everything was normal, went to a family gathering. Did you go on to the July the 4th get together that day? Yes, I did. Even though you didn't know where she was?

I was expecting I'd put me in a phone call that morning and then around lunch. And usually the maximum period of time that she has, they'd gone, there's only been like a day to a day and a half or so most. And as a result of that, I thought that she would. Did she try to call her? Not while I was there at the fourth,

and I called her prior to leaving to her head in that direction, yes, ma'am. The next morning comes after the family gathering. It's Sunday morning. You wake up and what happens? And he says, you know, Crystal still wasn't there. And they start kind of drilling him about his timeline for Sunday.

And he claims to have no memory of Sunday. He actually starts getting pretty defensive to police when they really start drilling him about that. He got angry that they were pushing him so hard when he was already going through a hard time. Police also found out that there was a strange phone call that came into Brooks phone around midnight at the time that Crystal went missing. It was from a random number.

Brooks claims that he doesn't know who it is and he doesn't remember what the phone call was about. So police made him actually call that number back to see who it was and they found out that it was someone that he was going to be renting one of his properties to and when they had the guy on the phone he explained that when they talked Brooks had told him that he needed to get some more information on the property from his wife because he and Crystal work together on the properties. But this is strange because that call had come in while he was with Crystal on the date night at the farm.

So police were like, uh, that makes no sense. Why would you have to go talk to her about it if she was with you? Why didn't you just give this guy the answer right then and there? So they continue on with the interrogation and eventually Brooks gets a phone call. He picks it up during the interrogation. They said it was fine and it turns out to be his brother Nick. Now it's weird is Nick. His brother is a police officer. And he starts telling him on the phone that he should get out of the interrogation.

I'm up here. I know that you didn't know. I'm up here in this interview with the detective. Detective Smow. I've been up here in the good little while. I'm feeling out this statement here and everything. Are you telling me that's where you come in? That's what I need to do. I know, I know that. But the way I look at it is I'm innocent. I ain't done nothing wrong. I know you've told me innocent people got jammed up. If you're telling me to leave, I'll get up and leave.

If you want me to, I know I'm going to walk, but I'm trying to get this guy to help me. I'll do exactly what you're telling me to do. You want me to get up and leave? I don't like these people, I don't like these people, rather than just to skin me for no reason. This is not their family, this is not... Are you going to put them in my phone and guess? This is not their family. This is not, or you can put them in my phone with this. He told Brooks to get up and leave. And he actually told Brooks that he thought

that the police were trying to make him look guilty. So Brooks leaves the interrogation. He decides he's not gonna participate anymore in that, but he does take a polygraph test, which polygraph tests are kind of whatever anyway. I mean, they really don't determine much. And his results came back inconclusive, so really nothing came out of that. So right away, the police department thought it was strange that Brooks' brother, Nick,

who's a police officer, is getting involved in their investigation. So they asked him to come in and do his own interview. But he tells police that he's not interested and isn't going to be talking to them, which was very strange considering, you know, if you're a police officer, you'd probably want to help other police officers move cases forward and solve things, but he was acting very suspicious right off the bat. As we get older, our responsibilities and challenges increase causing our stress levels to rise.

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and free shipping at hatch.co slash Kendall Ray. Sleep deeply and wake gently with a restore to. Go to hatch.co slash Kendall Ray to get $20 off and free shipping. That's hatch.co slash Kendall Ray. A few days later on July 10th, the reward was up to $71,000. They also ended up doing a pretty extensive and much bigger search all over the area that Crystal was last seen at the farm, at least that's where we think she was last seen.

And that's Nick's mom's house. So this is all related to Nick and Brooks. So that's also starting to look strange that it's their property. Also on that same day, some witnesses came forward and claimed that they saw Nick move a strange item out of his car and into his mom's car, which is very concerning. Also around this time, they talked to Crystal's ex-husband who was watching their children.

And he said that the day that she went missing at around 8.30 pm, he went to their house to get some clothes for their kids. And while he was there, Brooks had received a phone call from his brother Nick. And he gets off the phone call and was acting a little suspicious and he said, Nick needs help and just left the house. On July 12th, a massive search took place at Melody Lake, which is a little closer to where Crystal lived and the surrounding areas over there.

They even brought in professional divers to search the lake because it was really big. And searching a lake is a lot harder than people realize. I mean it's really murky waters and different depths and it's much bigger than people actually get a grasp on from seeing it from the surface. Now Crystal's family has brought up the belief several times that they think that someone killed her at the farm and that her body was then dumped in the lake because they have only been able to search certain areas of the lake, not the entire thing, or at least that was at first. I'm not sure if they've searched the entire thing by now, but at first they could only do so much. They've had cadaver dogs searched the lake

multiple times. Like I said, they had professional divers there, and they haven't found anything. However, it's really important to note that the cadaver dogs actually have responded multiple times in the same spot So it's possible that her remains are in the lake and crystals family thinks that they are and Sherry has tried to get the lake drained But has had no luck. So the place they're still feeling pretty weird about Brooks and definitely about his brother Nick Eventually they get Nick to come in for an interview on July 15th This is when they can front him and they tell him that within two hours of him and Brooks being on the phone that day, the two of them were then seen on camera driving to the farm.

And when police asked why they were driving to the farm together at night, Nick said that he can't remember anything. And it turns out that Nick had actually taken a cop car to the farm. And so they took that car in and had it tested, which, Illuminal test mostly is there to pick up blood, but really any bodily fluids.

And when they used it, they found that the whole trunk was covered in bodily fluids. There was also a blanket in the trunk, and that was also covered in bodily fluids. And Nick said that he had no idea why it would show up like that and he said that at the end of the day you guys won't find any DNA. And another thing that was very odd to police was that a fire extinguisher that's normally in the police car was missing from Nick's squad car. Police then started suggesting to Nick that maybe Brooks had an altercation with Crystal and killed her and Brooks had an altercation with Crystal and killed her and possibly had reached out to Nick for his help in covering it up.

I mean, he's a police officer. And Nick immediately shut that down, said, absolutely not. I did not have anything to do with this, Brooks didn't do anything, but then at the same time, he claims to not remember anything from that day. So they asked Nick to take a polygraph test and he agrees and he fails it. Again, this doesn't prove someone's innocent or guilty. Like I said, polygraph tests are super unreliable and that's why they're not often, you know, used in court. But the biggest part of the test that he failed was when they asked, do you know where crystal is?

He said no, and it said that he was lying. But Nick said that the place were crazy, that this was a witch hunt. He even claimed that the polygraph was a fake result. And he even started attacking the interrogator and getting really mad at him while he was giving him the polygraph test. You get an eye to an eye and that's fine. So people do it too well because that's what you've done at this point. And it's human nature. You know, when people are asked questions about a matter such as this, they immediately circle the wagons and start to roll. I have some preservation. We all... Man, let me dispatch you off. I mean, do we need to take this any further? I would like to take it to the truth. That's the whole reason.

Yeah, is the test though. I mean, I mean, I... You're talking crazy. What happened? You're talking crazy. You said reverse response to what was going to happen today, because it sure sounds like it. I don't know what it sounds like. I'm just telling you what you're talking crazy. What's crazy about it? Explain to me. The accusations you're making. Yeah, I'm saying you're involved in this. Absolutely not.

Well, no, no, no. You're already telling me that. That's why we did the polygraph to find out. Well, now we both know. I told you where they are. You told me before you had nothing to do with it. Yes. Well, now we're past that because I wanted to show them that you before you had nothing to do with it. Yes. Well now we're past that because I wanted to show him that he didn't have something to do.

But you've seen some interviews. Well, yeah, I'm not completely truthful about things. I just kind of skipped the head of him, I'm not completely truthful. I've been 100% truthful. What was I? You didn't know what I was saying. I've been 100% truthful. Why are you out on me?

Well, because you're telling me I'm lying and I know I'm not. I know the truth. You know? And I'm 100% for example. Why are you calling me? Well because you're telling me I'm lying and I know I'm not, I know the truth. You know? And I'm going 100% honest with you, the grand jury, and everybody else I spoke to. Oh yeah, but here's what I'm getting. Well you just said I'm going to say. Yes I have. No, you have.

I'm most definitely have. And if you don't want to believe it, that's your issue, it's not mine. It's not just me, I showed you. I don't give a goddamn what your fucking computer said, okay? Thank you, dude. I'm telling you that I have been 100% honest with you. And this was a huge red flag for police. I don't give a goddamn much fucking computer sad, okay? I think you do. I'm telling you that I have been 100% honest with you. And this was a huge red flag for police.

I mean, this was a police officer. He was acting so paranoid and so suspicious. They felt like as a police officer, he of anyone should be participating fully and doing everything he can to help. On October 16th, 2015, the sheriff went on TV and stated that Crystal was presumed dead and they also made the decision to fire Nick from the police department for interfering with the case.

You know, I expect a lot out of law enforcement. I expect a lot out of the officers that are under me and that was not a behavior that I was going to accept as chief. And I asked the mayor to please consider my request that as long as I was chief, I wouldn't have any police officer work under me. And then the family was really hopeful that this new news would really help push along the arrests, that they could arrest Brooks and have some closure to all of this, but that did not happen. Brooks never got charged with anything and Nick never even got charged with messing with the case and trying to interfere. At the end of 2015, a man named Danny Singleton was indicted for 38 counts of perjury and giving false testimony on Crystal's case. Danny was a longtime friend of Brooks and apparently the morning that she went missing,

Danny called Brooks and the police thought it was strange because Danny was speaking with Brooks Stop morning. However, this really didn't help them with anything regarding finding Crystal. So weeks turned into months and months turned into years and Nothing had come forward about Crystal. There's always things that the police don't want to tell the public in cases because it could jeopardize their case. It's an active investigation, but oftentimes they will give as much as they can without jeopardizing the case. And Crystal's family believes that they have more that they're not sharing, but it's really unknown. The police have warned them though

that they are possibly dealing with a very dangerous situation and that they should be careful. One weird thing that the police did though was they gave Crystal's car back to the family very quickly. They said they were done with it, done processing it, and handed it over to them when that essentially could be a crime scene.

So at one point, a private detective named Dwayne Stanton started working on the case with the family. He looked at the car and noticed that there was no fingerprint powder residue. He claims that that could mean that the police didn't even dust for fingerprints before giving the car back to Crystal's family. Dwayne also said that it doesn't look like

there was luminol testing done on Crystal's car. The police only took one fingerprint off of the car. And this is very weird, but some people have brought up that I guess in the state of Kentucky, you can only use 10 pieces of evidence per case, and so they have to limit their amounts of evidence, which, wow, I had no idea about that. I'm not sure if that's why they did that,

but yeah, only one fingerprint was marked on Crystal's car in the back. So basically, their family felt like the car was just not processed correctly. So they went ahead and brought in their own experts to test the car. The first thing that they noticed was that there was a bunch of junk in the car.

Things that just should not have been in there, things that should have been moved out by the police before they examined it. They also brought in cadaver dogs and they reacted to the trunk area of the car. They went ahead and sprayed the car down with lumenol and they found a spot in the back right corner of the trunk indicating that there was probably human blood there. They went ahead and sent all of this evidence into the lab and the results showed that they did find some DNA in the car, however, they weren't able to match it with a specific profile. And that spot in the back of the trunk

ended up unfortunately not being blood. And while this private investigator's working with the family, they also decided to re-examine the lake. They brought in cadaver dogs again, they brought professional divers, searched the lake again. And this was the fourth time that this was done, and they still didn't find anything. So the family was feeling very defeated. They were heartbroken over Crystal's disappearance

and just wanted answers. And from the beginning, they felt like the police weren't really doing everything they could to find Crystal, so they decided to step in, especially her father, Tommy. Tommy really stepped up and became sort of an investigator in the case himself. He himself looked at a bunch of surveillance video around town.

He searched all over the internet for leads, talked to so many different people, and by the fall of 2016, I guess Tommy was starting to feel like he was starting to put the pieces together. At this point, they even created a group called Team Crystal to really hone in and they were determined to find answers. Personal Podcasts Library. Subscribe today and get your first four months free on the Sirius XM app. Enjoy hundreds of expertly curated podcasts including Sirius XM exclusives, ready to be explored, tales of true crime, a less celebrity hosts, and so much more.

You'll find something to binge on every day of the week. Visit SiriusXM.ca for offer details. Sirius XM, everything you want to hear lives here. They were working as hard as they could until something really tragic happened. On November 19th, 2016, Tommy had plans to go hunting. He had been hunting in this specific area for over a decade. He loved hunting. He was very safe with guns. A big group of them all went out. It was really early in the morning. It was Casey and Brandon, Crystal's brothers, and also Crystal's son Trenton, who went with Tommy. And so they got to the area that they were going to be hunting,

and not long after they got there, Casey and Brandon were just sitting in the car when suddenly they heard a gunshot. Trenton was freaking out he called Casey and told him that his grandfather had been shot and he died right there on the scene. Sherry his wife actually came to the scene and was with him towards the end. He was bleeding out of his nose. She said it was just terrible and she knew that he was gone. So this obviously shook the whole town. I mean first crystals missing now her father who has been actively searching been shot. And at first people really did think this was a hunting accident, but

her family knew right away. There's no way that this was an accident. Him and Sherry were high school sweethearts, you know, inseparable. You know, and I just I just don't know how she's doing this without him. Tommy Ballard's

father, Till Ballard, who says Tommy was known around Nelson County for his selflessness. One time at Christmas, this family, and this without him. Tommy Ballard's father, Till Ballard, says Tommy was known around Nelson County for his selflessness. One time at Christmas, this family didn't have any Christmas. He went and got the kids bicycles, took them baskets of fruit. Tommy wasn't gonna give up. He told me he said, he said, I'll spend my last dollar

trying to find crystal. And that's what he wanted. He wanted to find his daughter And that's what he wanted. He wanted to find his daughter. That's all he wanted. He was not going to stop. And the community's still not going to stop to have the evidence that they have. And nobody's been convicted yet. The town needs justice along with the ballards.

They were two good human beings. And they didn't deserve what they got. We're going to go back to our families and live life like we always have, but the banners will never have that. It's just hard to put it behind us. We'll never put it behind us. We'll never put it behind us. Tommy will always be there.

They said that he had been hunting in this area forever and people know that he goes there and that other people, including Brooks and maybe Nick, would have known that he hunts in this area. It seemed as if he was shot and someone staged it to look like a hunting accident. The area that they hunt in is surrounded by this wall of trees and they said that there was an area where there was almost a hole cut out in the trees, where it literally even sawed off. Like someone had made an area for them to set up and shoot from far away.

It's definitely possible someone was using that as kind of a lookout point. There were marks in that area on the tree that showed the kickback from the gun. And not only that, Tommy had actually said that he felt like someone was stalking him. He had mentioned this multiple times and he had even installed a camera

on the back of his car just in case. Trenton said that he and Tommy were just walking and that Tommy had bent over to look in the little view finder thing on the gun. I really don't know what she'd about guns. And it was then that he was shot from behind. So it's pretty obvious why someone would do this. It seems that Tommy was getting a little too close

to figuring out what had happened to Crystal and putting the pieces together and someone took him out. Tommy had getting a little too close to figuring out what had happened to crystal and putting the pieces together and someone Took him out Tommy had kept a bunch of files So the family luckily had access to pretty much everything that he was working on They had video tapes addresses organized documents notes and just everything that Tommy had spent hours and hours putting together Now they never actually showed that stuff to police because they believe that they could do a better job of figuring this out on their own. They definitely have not had confidence in the police.

And so one of the tapes that Tommy had had in his stash was Walmart Security Footage of Crystal. It was 4.36 PM, it was July 3rd, and this is the last official footage of Crystal. Tommy also had notes written down that he had talked to someone in the Walmart and they said that they had saw Crystal going to her car with groceries around 5 p.m. and apparently there was another witness who claimed to have seen her car between 10 or 11 p.m.

and that would mean that Brooke statement about her leaving the round midnight didn't match up. and it turns out that in a bunch of the videos that Tommy had in his stash there was videos of this white car that kept pulling up at theash. There was videos of this white car that kept pulling up at the Walmart. After tracking it back, they kind of figured out there's a chance that this could've been Brooks' mother's car, Rosemary's car. Tommy had actually announced that he was looking

for this white car on Facebook, and right after that, Rosemary sold her car. Investigators actually said that they believed that this white car could've been used to move the body, but that Rosemary is not a suspect. At one point, she did go in and do an interview with police, but they have promised that they would keep that confidential. They've also taken some evidence from her house apparently,

but nothing has really come out of that either. So they ended up finding that white car that belonged to rosemary. It turns out it was a Buick, and it had been sold into a dealership. They retrieved the car and they did testing on it, but it's not clear what they have found. If they found anything, it has not been made public yet.

One thing that they did find was a GPS that was underneath the seat of the car. So that was interesting. So they took the GPS in and they tried to see if maybe they could track where her car was on the day that Crystal went missing. And it turned out that the GPS hadn't been working since 2014. They did find some fluid in the car so they tested it for blood, it turns out

it was not blood. So then in July of 2017 there was this other woman named Crystal, Crystal Dawn Mowpin. And she was arrested for stealing and damaging a bunch of the signs that Crystal's family had placed around the town, like missing person signs. And it turns out that she actually had been dating Brooks. So that's just super, super sketchy. At one point, a tip came in that said that they saw Brooks in this one field area around the time that Crystal went missing.

And so they searched that whole area and nothing was found from that. In March of 2018, Crystal's family tried to go to the state capital to raise awareness about Crystal and other people who are missing. They try to hold visuals as often as they can to remind people that Crystal is still missing. You know, just trying to keep her memory alive, just trying to keep their spirits up as much as they can with really no new leaves. The thing about Crystal Rogers case that's really interesting is there seems to be a few other cases that could possibly be connected.

There is a multi-part documentary done by Oxygen on this case. If you want a ton more detail about this case and about all those other cases, definitely check that out. But I definitely wanted to talk today about Jason Ellis as well. So Jason Ellis was a police officer who died in May of 2013, two years before Crystal

did, and he also spent a lot of time working with Nick. So on May 25, 2013, Jason Ellis had just finished his shift. It was 2 a.m. and that was about the time that he normally called off duty. After he called off, he started heading back home. But while he was driving home, he had to stop because there were these big branches in the road on his way home. So he stopped his car, got out to get the branches out of the way, and that's when he was shot.

It was a trap. And Jason was wearing body armor. So whoever had shot him knew where to shoot where he wasn't protected. Jason did not survive the shooting, and it was really heartbreaking to the whole community. I mean, Jason was a really beloved officer and was known as a good guy in their community. The officers were silent.

Everything was quiet. The police tape was around the scene and I walked up and the sheriff at the time was there and one of the troopers and I said, what's it tell me something? And he said, it's, what's tell me something? And you know, he said, he said, it's, it's Ellis and he's gone. Eventually determining the officer was ambushed, the killer strategically placing debris in his path. They pulled out the branch so that he would be forced to stop his car and then enter just the right angle.

So they could get the shot off. And it's just interesting that Nick is a police officer as well. So a lot of people think that these cases are related. However, police have come out and said several times. There's no evidence at least that the cases are related. Then the year before Crystal went missing in 2014, Kathy and her daughter Samantha Netherland were brutally murdered in their own house.

Both of them were stabbed to death. Kathy had been fatally shot and her daughter had blunt forced trauma. They never figured out who did it. There are no leads. There's no clues. And people wonder if that case is also possibly related to these other murders and disappearances. Of course, there's people that theorize that Crystal is not dead, that she is alive. Some people think that Crystal actually left on her own. Her family said there's just no way. There's people that theorize that crystal is not dead, that she is alive. Some people think that crystal actually left on her own. Her family said there's just no way she would believe her five children and in the middle of the night, and the timeline just doesn't make sense for someone to run away from their

life. Of course that does happen, but I don't think that's what happened here. Some people have brought up that maybe crystal had a secret life. Maybe she was involved with the drug scene There's actually a huge amount of drugs in Kentucky pretty much all of America has a ton of drugs But there is a huge huge drug problem specifically in Kentucky It's very scary, but there is cartel activity in Kentucky It's in many states now actually and Bardstown specifically has been known for just lots of drug activity overall

So of course people think that maybe crystal was secretly involved with this whole scene back in February of 2016 the family had received a letter from an inmate and it said a while back I was an old him county jail in a holding cell and I overheard another inmate say that crystal wasn't in Bardstown He also went on to talk about an area called White Mills in Highway 62. The letter also said that an inmate tried to notify Bardstown officers several times of this information, but not even one officer ever came from Bardstown to speak with this anonymous inmate. The letter also said that this inmate had information about the Netherlands case as well. He knew that there was no forced entry, and he also knew that they had used a

cell phone jammer which basically stops all cell phone service within the house and they put that on the front door. And this inmate apparently had information about Jason as well. In regards to Jason he said, three guys planned it in my basement while I was there. And then he went on to talk about these storage unit robberies back in 2012 and that there were drugs involved in it and that Jason knew about it. He basically said that he was taken out because he had too much information. It's very scary, but the cartel does put out hits

on officers, it does happen. So it's possible that Jason Alice's death has nothing to do with crystals. But the letter also said that a third shotgun from that night was destroyed by cutting a torch and a vice. Both items I still have. There's an eyewitness out there to it all, but wasn't involved.

But at the end of the day, we have no idea if this person is telling the truth. Crystal's family actually tried to go visit him in 2016 to talk to them for themselves. And when they got there, they found out that he was moved to another prison. So as far as I know, to this day, they have not talked to him. Years after the family was trying to talk to him, Dwayne, their investigator, also tried

to schedule a time to talk to him, but he found out that he was moved once again. And I guess this inmate is convinced that they are moving him around so much and preventing them from talking with investigators because they're worried that he will spill the tea and that he has some inside information possibly on the police. I guess eventually they're investigator Dwayne talked to the inmate on the phone and he said that he basically wrote the letter because he felt bad for Sherry and for Crystal's family and everything that they've been through. And then he said that Crystal is actually a friend of his cousin, so he kind of felt like he had a personal

connection to the case and he felt sad. So is it possible that he's making all of this up just because he wants some weird connection to the case? Absolutely, that should happen all the time, but he could be telling the truth. So I'm not really sure on that one. You guys will have to let me know what you think.

But then he ended up telling Dwayne something that makes his whole story a lot more believable. He said that his cousin, the one who knew Crystal, said that there is this garage at White Mills and 62. That's the cross street. And he says that he was told that Crystal was taken there, she was cut up there, and then she was burned along with the building.

And then not only that, he said that once his cousin told him this, he was murdered. The cousin was murdered. And not only that, Fire Department records show that that garage was on fire multiple times actually. First in June 2016, then again in February 2017, then again in April of 2017.

Now that's really weird and also strange that this inmate knew about all these things since he's been in jail this whole time. Also, all of those dates are after Crystal went missing. He also claimed to know that there were four people involved in Jason Ellis' murder and that all four of them were hired to murder him. When he was asked about the Netherlands case,

he claimed that it was a gang initiation thing and that it was unrelated. But even with all this information from this inmate, there's still the possibility that he's making it up. No one can confirm that he's telling the truth. So now let's get into the most recent update that has happened in the last month. So like I said in the beginning of the video, remains have been found and it is possible that they belong to Crystal. On July 23 23rd a landowner discovered bones on the Washington Nelson County line in a washed out creek bank along the side of beach for griver I guess these remains were just exposed from the side and it was located in a bank that was eroded by elevated waters over the years Police say they learned about the human remains on Thursday the next. They call the response team due to the

quote difficult to reach location. The remains were sent to the FBI lab in Quantico Virginia for testing. So people definitely instantly got their hopes up that this could be crystal and could bring that

closure to the family. Then on August 6th, the FBI came in, which is huge. They have so many more resources than the regular police department does. And as soon as they got there, they immediately executed nine search warrants. Next house, Brooks's house, and then their mother rosemary's house, the one with the

white car. You're looking down below at the Halk family farm. Take a look at the huge number of police vehicles parked right there on the property. This is not far from where Crystal Rogers was last seen. Also, this is not far from where the Rogers was last seen. Also, this is not far from where the still unidentified possible human remains were found in late

July. And in addition, the IRS is gathering evidence in a number of locations in neighborhoods and a storage unit containing crystals belongings. So everyone wants to know if those remains belong to Crystal. It's been

huge news. Everyone's on their toes. They said that the process takes a really long time. It's now been four weeks Everyone's on their toes. They said that the process takes a really long time. It's now been four weeks. I actually thought those results would come back by now when I planned to do this video a few weeks ago. But they said that it's the DNA extraction process that's taking so long. These remains must be very difficult to identify. I'm sure they're not in good condition. But we do know that they are female and between the age of 24 and 82, which doesn't help that much. But just the fact that it's a female and that this person was found

close to Nix and the farm and all these locations that Crystal last was seen. It seems like there's a good chance it really could be her and I really hope it is so that their family can finally get some closure and possibly pursue justice now. I'm really not sure how long it's going to take. I mean, I know that they've sent the DNA samples to Quantico, which is like the best place for them to possibly be their labs or like top notch in the country. So hopefully it's sooner than later. Possible human remains discovered in Nelson County late last week. Our undergoing testing at an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. The family of missing Bardstown Mother Crystal Rogers has been notified and is waiting to

hear some news. Like I said, I hope that it's crystal so that they can begin their healing process. If it's not, I hope that whoever it is gets closure in their family as well. And also, I just hope that this family somehow gets justice in the end because something clearly happened to Crystal. She did not leave. I do not think she was caught up in drugs. I don't believe in any of that.

I mean, at the end of the day, I think Brooks did it. And there are signs all over their town that says Brook Hauks is the only suspect. And he is. I think Nick helped him and I think Brooks did it. And that's my personal opinion. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple

podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. If you want to drop the references, they will get you referenced. The SiriusXM app is home to your personal podcast library.

Subscribe today and get your first four months free on the Sirius XM app. Enjoy hundreds of expertly curated podcasts including Sirius XM exclusives ready to be explored. Tales of True Crime, A Less Celebrity Hosts, and so much more. You'll find something to binge on every day of the week. Visit SiriusXM.ca for offer details. SiriusXM, everything you want to hear lives here. If you want to drop the references, they will get you referenced. The SiriusXM app is home to your personal podcast library. Subscribe today and get your first four months free on the SiriusXM app. Enjoy hundreds of expertly curated podcasts, including Sirius XM exclusives ready to be explored.

Tales of True Crime, A Less Liberty Hosts, and so much more. You'll find something to binge on every day of the week. Visit SiriusXM.ca for offer details. Sirius XM, everything you want to hear lives here.